"They come at you in waves and take you out of your offense," said Duquesne head coach Jim Ferry. "You cannot simulate that in practice. It was 13-12 and Derrick Colter had probably 12. It wasn't like we were running good offense. It was Derrick making plays. Their pressure picked up and we didn't have the pieces to handle it."

Graham had 17 points - including four 3-pointers - in a half that ended with VCU up 44-18.

Duquesne had one assist and 10 turnovers in the first half.

Brandenberg, who like Graham finished with five 3-pointers, hit a pair in the first two minutes of the second half to push the lead to 31.

VCU's largest lead was 35 with eight minutes left.

The Rams, who finished with 12 3-pointers, shot 50.0 percent. VCU's 42-29 rebounding advantage led to a 24-10 margin in second chance points. Duquesne, which shot 42.3 percent, finished with eight assists.

Duquesne returns to action against Saint Louis on Wednesday, Jan. 23 at 7:00 p.m. at the Palumbo Center.

NOTES

 The last time Duquesne opened Atlantic 10 play 0-4 was in 2009-10, when the Dukes started 0-4 on the way to a 7-9 A-10 finish ... DU's six-game losing streak is its longest since 2006-07 (last eight games of the season).